It would not be an exaggeration to call this constituency the heartland of Orange, Protestant, loyalist Ulster. Its Catholic population numbers fewer than six in every 100 people, the lowest proportion for any Northern Ireland constituency.

The constituency contains the parliament buildings at Stormont, the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly set up under the Good Friday Agreement.

From an industrial point of view, the most important landmark is the Harland and Wolff shipyard, famed for its giant twin cranes, which are known as Samson and Goliath. Also in the constituency is Belfast City Airport, which is situated by the harbour.

The UUP did not contest this seat in 1987 or 1992, but did so in 1997 and won just over a quarter of the votes cast with the non-sectarian Alliance Party a close third. The DUP won just over 40% of the vote.

At the 1998 Assembly election, the DUP still came out on top with Peter Robinson, but with a much smaller margin between it and the UUP, not least because the loyalist PUP won over 13% of the vote and saw its leader, David Ervine elected as an MLA.